Eco Rafting Tour - Catalina Island
Written: Oct 25 '03 (Updated Oct 28 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful clear, blue water, dolphins
Cons: Didn't get the full Catalina experience
The Bottom Line: If you visit Catalina Island, you must go on the Eco Rafting Tour. It's truly amazing.
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| Dionne25's Full Review: Catalina Island |
Disclaimer
This review is part of my Carnival Cruise review. Please be sure to read about the cruise by visiting my One of the Best Vacations I've Been on (So Far) review.
On Tuesday, October 14, 2003, our first stop on our cruise was Catalina Island. Coming into port around 7am, it was truly amazing. I am an early bird by nature, so I went out to the balcony and watched as the Ecstasy pulled in to Avalon, the major city on Catalina. The sun was just coming up, hitting the mountains and the buildings and all I could think was "Wow." It almost reminded me of Greece. I remember seeing a former co-worker's pictures of her honeymoon in Greece and I was instantly taken back to those moments. I snapped a few photos as we were coming in to port and was just in awe.
Shortly after, Candice woke up, we got dressed and went to breakfast and made our way to the Tender. The Tender is a boat that transports us from the ship to the island and they left in 5-10 minute increments. Getting to the Tender was like pulling teeth. We got lost and each time we asked a crew member, "How do we get to the Tender?" the answer was always the same, "Go forward." "Which way is forward?" "That way." Eventually, we made it to the Tender and coming in to the island, we both knew we were going to be in for a treat.
Candice and I signed up for the 8:45am Eco Rafting Tour. We are on a jet-ski boat that holds about 10 passengers comfortably and tours us around the island for about two hours. When we got to the dock area, we were the only ones there and quite sure we were going to be the only ones on this tour. We met two women from the Boston area (Karen and Courtney) and we hit it off immediately. We talked shop (i.e. baseball and friendship) and instantly became fast friends.
Our tour guide was Heidi and she was originally from upstate New York and moved to Catalina Islands about 4 years prior. We were going in two boats because we had such a large tour group. We were told that we were going to be riding along the shore of the island and to be on the look out for wildlife, including eagles and the possibility of seeing some dolphins.
The tour started out fairly simple. We leave out of Avalon, which is the main tourist attraction and residential area of Catalina. Most of the houses are on the mountains and to be quite honest, if I were to live there, I would feel very claustrophobic. All the houses seemed to be stacked on top of each other and God forbid an earthquake was to hit. But, I'm going off subject, so back to the review.
The day was beautiful, sunny and the water was some of the bluest water I had ever seen. While on the tour, we stopped at various spots on the island and learned some history. We saw some eagles, a blue heron and after a while, we started to wonder if this was only going to be a bird-watching tour.
Our guide brought us to this area of the island called Long Point, and inside one of the rocks (which looked like a cave) was a formation of the Catalina Island which was kind of cool.
At this point in the trip, we're learning about the culture and lifestyle on the island. For instance, to get a car, people are on a 17-year waiting list. There were a whole bunch of Children's camps that we saw along the way and there was even a boat with a bunch of the kids who were doing a school lesson.
The trip is winding down, and Candice and I are getting a little disappointed. I mean, this tour cost $59 a piece and all we saw were a bunch of birds?!?!? There has to be more than this. As we are making our way back to Avalon, Candice and I notice something jumping off into the horizon. We motion to Heidi (our guide) and the driver slows the boat down, we get wet and the other passengers are upset because they got wet. Hey, we're on water for crying out loud.
Anyway, Heidi sees something as well, motions the driver to the spot, and we ended up in a Dolphin Pod. Aside from my trip to Sea World (which I don't even count), I had never seen dolphins before. It was absolutely amazing. There were literally 30 dolphins swimming around the boat, jumping, doing acrobatics and giving us a show. Chantal is a Carnival crew member from South Africa who came along with us and had a video camera capturing all these moments and we are all snapping away with our cameras. Candice had an underwater camera and just as a test stuck the camera underwater and started snapping. We got the pictures back and underwater are 3 dolphins swimming in this crystal blue water. This was the perfect ending and made the tour worth it.
We get back to Avalon and are on Cloud 9. We were so happy that we booked the early tour because we heard the 11:15 tour didn't see any dolphins. Candice and I toured the shops in Avalon for a bit because there was a treasure chest contest of sorts in some of the stores. If our cabin was listed in one of the stores, we were eligible for a prize. Plus, we each got a map (like searching for treasure) and got each location stamped by a store owner. If our name was drawn, we were also eligible for a prize. We did a little shopping only because things were so expensive there. I bought postcards and magnets and Candice bought some real nice gifts for family and friends. After the shopping, we headed back to the Tender because we had appointments in the Spa.
The Eco Rafting Tour was one of the best tours I had ever been on. Seeing those dolphins made the tour even better. We didn't get to tour any of the homes on the island, including the famous Wrigley House, but one day, I hope to get back and do some more touring.
Everyone on that tour boat left with grins from ear-to-ear. It was a once in a lifetime moment and one that I will never forget.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Jun - Aug
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Epinions.com ID:
Dionne25
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Location: PEI, Canada
Reviews written: 333
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I'm a proud mamma of 2 boys!!!
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